BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:http://britishchessnews.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20190101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210213 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210214 DTSTAMP:20210208T111141Z CREATED:20190823T180554Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210208T111141Z UID:1090-1613174400-1613260799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Michael Lipton (13-ii-1937) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Michael Lipton (13-ii-1937) \nThe Two Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development\nChess Problems : Introduction to an Art\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-michael-lipton/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/13.02-Michael-Lipton.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210211 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210212 DTSTAMP:20210208T110428Z CREATED:20200410T212452Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210208T110428Z UID:4377-1613001600-1613087999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Rod McKay (11-ii-1952) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Roderick McIntosh McKay (11-ii-1952) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-roderick-mcintosh-mckay-11-ii-1952/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Player,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/JUA3108-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210204 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210205 DTSTAMP:20210130T184442Z CREATED:20190823T181358Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210130T184442Z UID:1096-1612396800-1612483199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Sir Jeremy Morse (10-xii-1928 04-ii-2016) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Sir Jeremy Morse\, (10-xii-1928 04-ii-2016) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-sir-jeremy-morse/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210201 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210202 DTSTAMP:20230128T141945Z CREATED:20190824T091314Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230128T141945Z UID:1142-1612137600-1612223999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Edith Baird (née Winter-Wood) (??-??-1859 01-ii-1924) DESCRIPTION:We remember Edith Baird (née Winter-Wood) \nEdith Elina Helen Winter-Wood was born\, probably in 1859*\, to Thomas Winter-Wood\, a writer and poet\, and Eliza Ann (née Sole) Winter-Wood in Boulogne\, France. \n(*Despite 22nd February 1859 appearing in Wikipedia we are unable to locate a primary source for this date. Contemporary secondary sources always just gave 1859 as her year of birth. Census records imply that she was born between April 1859 and March 1860. Her marriage record from 1st December 1880 describes her as being ‘of full age’: at least 21 years old\, so born before December 1859. However\, her death record from 1st February 1924 gives her age as 63\, implying that she was born between February 1860 and January 1861. Either her death record is incorrect or she added a couple of months to her age when she married. ) \nMany secondary and tertiary sources incorrectly give the Winter-Wood family home of Hareston Manor (now a venue for weddings) near Brixton\, Plymouth\, Devon as her birthplace. \nHareston Manor near Plymouth\nThe family was resident in Boulogne in at least 1858 (as discussed below) and a UK birth certificate for Edith does not appear to exist. Having said that\, a French birth certificate has yet to be located. Both Brian Denman and Chris Ravilious are satisfied that Edith was born in Boulogne and various census records attest to this. Ed: both Richard James and myself (JEU) have examined the evidence carefully and Boulogne would appear to be correct. \nThomas Winter-Wood was born in Har(e)ston\, Devon in 1819 and was himself a strong player having been educated at Plympton Grammar School (now known as Hele’s School). Thomas was the son of John Wood-Winter who\, in 1824\, reversed the order of the family surname. Thomas sold the family estate leaving the Winter-Woods with substantial means\, with each family member able to pursue their leisure interests whilst retaining a number of domestic staff. \nThomas Winter-Wood (1819-1905) in 1903.\nThomas taught all of his family to play chess and Edith learnt at an early age. Both Edward J and Carslake W also learnt early on\, Edward (aged 11 in 1858) played members of Boulogne Chess Club giving them rook odds and ten years later Edward joined London Chess Club. \nAccording to Tartajubow : \n“(Edward) played in several tournaments and in blindfold simuls he drew two games against Lowenthal and one against Blackburne. In 1878 he joined the Croydon Chess Club and once in one of their tournaments scored 23-7. He also enjoyed success in many other club tournaments\, correspondence chess and problem solving tournaments. Many of his problems appeared in leading publications of the day.” \nand\, also according to Tartajubow : \n“Her other brother\, Carslake W. Wood (1849 – 1924)\, lived with his mother’s brother\, Major Sole of the 5th Militia of West York\, in Torquay. While travelling Europe with the Soles\, he also developed a taste for painting and on many occasions donated his paintings as prizes in chess tournaments.” \nThe Doge’s Palace\, Venice 1880s by Carslake W Winter-Wood\nAccording to F. R. Gittins (in The Chess Bouquet 1897): \n“The moves came to her\, as she says\, by a kind of instinct before she was out of her first decade. She did not\, however\, commence composing problems until some years after her marriage\, which took place in 1880\, to Deputy Inspector-General W. J. Baird\, M.D.\, R.N.\, whose distinguished services have been mentioned in despatches and rewarded with four medals and two clasps. Eight years later she composed her first problem\, and commenced a wonderful series of successes\, having gained eleven first\, nine second\, and six third prizes\, and been honourably mentioned nine times.” \nEdith Baird (née Winter-Wood)\nAccording to the old ChessDevon web site (sadly only available via the WayBack Machine) \n“In 1893\, for instance\, she entered The Hackney Mercury 3-mover tournament\, with a limit of 6 pieces. Most of the great composers of the time had entered\, – B. G. Laws\, P. H. Williams and James Raynor among them\, but she won 1st prize. As one American critic observed\, ‘The fact that the tourney assumed an almost international character rendered the triumph of the distinguished lady victor as noteworthy as it was creditable’.” \nHere is this first prize (1): \nBaird\, Edith Elina Helen\nHackney Mercury\, 1893\n1st Prize \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe problem solutions may be found at the foot of this article. \nShe very quickly progressed and was soon producing problems that were described as being “exceedingly pretty” and which ‘displayed unmistakable aptitude for the intricacies of chess.’ Her work 700 Chess Problems was published by Henry Sotheran Ltd in 1902 and took her 14 years to complete.” \nSeven Hundred Chess Problems. Selected from the compositions of Mrs. W. J. Baird\, WJ Baird\, 1902\nSeven Hundred Chess Problems\n700 Chess Problems may be downloaded from here. \nEdith also had a brief career in chess competitions in the 1890s\, winning the 1897 Sussex Ladies Championship without losing a game. \nFew samples of her play survive\, but they show her to be a proficient player with\, as you might expect from a problemist\, a keen tactical eye. In this game she finishes neatly with a queen sacrifice. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIn this game\, from a blindfold simul against the London-based Dutch organist and chess master Rudolf Loman (1861-1932)\, she uses a tactic to reach an equal ending. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nAccording to the 1871 census the Winter-Wood household lived at “Hareston”\, Tavistock Road\, Croydon\, Surrey and consisted of Thomas (52 and Landowner)\, Eliza (44) plus Edith’s brothers Edward J (23 and Banker) and Carslake W (22 and retired banker)\, Marie A (17)\, Edith (11) plus three (!) domestic servants. \nIn 1880 (‘of full age’) Edith married the Deputy Inspector-General of Fleets and Hospitals\, William James Baird\, MD\, of the Royal Navy\, in the parish church of St George Hanover Square.  (You’ll see that she married under the surname Wood rather than Winter-Wood.) William was almost thirty years her senior\, having been born in Londonderry in 1831. The 1881 census found them in lodgings in Durham House\, Hotspur Street\, Tynemouth\, North Tyneside: presumably William was there in connection with his work.  Later the same year\, their only child\, Lilian Edith Baird\, was born in the same place. \nWilliam and Edith’s marriage recorded in the Parish Register of St George Hanover Square\nWilliam Baird and Edith (Winter-)Wood’s marriage bonds\nLilian would become a child prodigy whose first problem was published before she was 10 years old. She was also an accomplished poet and painter like her mother. Although she had over 70 problems published by the age of thirteen\, Lilian gave up chess composing while still in her teens. \nLilian Edith Strong (née Baird)\n(Lilian merits a full article in this place in her own right : added to ToDo list!) \nBy 1891 William had retired and the family had settled in Brighton living at 14 College Terrace\, where they employed a servant\, Louisa Howard (23). In 1901 the census enumerator found them at the same address\, their servant now being Lilian Millard (25). \n14 College Terrace\, Brighton\, East Sussex. BN2 0EE\nWilliam died in 1907\, and Lilian had married in 1910: the 1911 census found Edith living in a boarding house named Mountcoombe in Surbiton. The house no longer exists\, but its name\, minus a letter\, survives in Mountcombe Close\, now a location for residential flats. Shortly afterwards\, she joined her brothers in Paignton\, Devon\, close to her family’s ancestral roots. \nReturning to Edith’s family\, by the time of the 1881 census the Winter-Wood household (bar Edith) had relocated to “Mariestead”\, Netley Abbey\, Southampton and had shrunk to Thomas\, Eliza and a mere two servants. Edith gave this address when she married William Baird. \nEdith Baird (née Winter-Wood)\nIn the 1891 census the Winter-Wood household consisted of Thomas (72)\, Eliza (64) plus Edith’s brothers Edward (43) and Carslake (42) all of whom were described as “living on means”. They had returned to three domestic servants : Mary Scoble (65)\, Carrie Stephens (22) and Kate Truman (just 12). They lived at 14\, The Crescent\, Plymouth\, PL8 2AP. Nothing remains of this property\, it would appear. By 1901\, the family had moved again\, to “Kenwick”\, Paignton\, Devon. They were back down to two servants: Florence Gagg (18) was the housemaid and Sarah Chambers (59) the cook. Thomas died in 1905\, and the 1911 census gives their address as “Hareston”\, Totnes Road\, Paignton. Eliza\, Edward and Carslake’s servants were now Laura Ellen Gagg (25 – presumably related to Florence) and Sarah Tulley. \nIn an interview with the Westminster Gazette (1st September 1894) Edith was asked why chess has always been a man’s game. \n“Frivolous and fashionable women would begrudge the time and thought it requires; busy mothers of families could not\, of course\, spare time for it\, and the great majority of unmarried girls have not\, I’m afraid\, the necessary patience. Then\, too\, it is\, I must confess\, an unsociable game. It is most suitable for quiet and reflective people\, and for invalids. It seems always to have attracted clever strategists like military and naval commanders\, and also great politicians. I wish girls would take to it more\, because it is such excellent mental discipline\, and brings out one’s patience. It would also be a useful corrective to the tendency to jump at conclusions which many women have. The great charm is that it is a home accomplishment. A woman is not expected to leave her fireside for the sake of chess. It is a stable kind of amusement for which she never need sully her womanliness or her good reputation. Many of the outdoor sports\, innocent and healthy enough\, lead to a great deal of flirtation and general frivolity.” \nF.R. Gittins (op. cit.) described her as follows: \n“Mrs. Baird\, however\, is something more even than the Queen of Chess-problem composers. She is\, for example\, an enthusiastic and skilful archer\, and\, living as she does in Brighton\, has for some time been a prominent member of the Furze Hill Archery Club\, of which she is a member of the committee\, and in which\, she has\, for two years in succession\, taken the medal for the highest aggregate score of the season. She also paints and illuminates charmingly\, and has a pretty inherited talent for writing verse. Her book of illuminations\, in fact\, is described as “so chaste and delicate in design as to recall the ancient illuminated books which are treasured in museums and art galleries.” In politics she is a staunch Liberal\, while the modern movement against all cruelty to animals – whether inflicted under the name of sport or in the interests of science – finds in her one of its most ardent champions.  Besides the déclassement derived from chess\, she is also a great believer in girls making themselves independent of marriage\, from a monetary point of view\, by having a definite occupation. When it is added that she never allows chess\, painting\, or any other favourite pursuit to occupy her time until all the domestic matters of home have been seen to\, we have said sufficient to show how finely-rounded and complete a life this brilliantly clever woman leads. It is only left to add that her manner is kind and  charming\, and that she is thoughtfulness and considerateness itself to all her friends. She is\, moreover\, the most loving of mothers\, and has been heard to declare that if anything were to happen to “Lily”\, she would never compose another chess problem.” \nEdith was also an avid bicyclist who was known to have ridden 25 miles (on one of those old style bicycles) to discuss an adjourned chess game. \nEdith Elina Helen Baird\nOn Friday\, February 1st\, 1924 Edith passed away. The probate record is dated April 29th and was granted to Herbert Percy Strong\, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army\, who was Lilian’s husband. The initial value of the effects was £18110 5s 7d which was subsequently resworn to £16627 13s 11d. \nProbate record for Edith Baird (1924)\nBoth Sunnucks and Golombek are silent on Edith. This is somewhat surprising since Anne liked to mention female players and problemists. \nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \nEDITH ELINA HELEN (née Winter Wood) (1859-1924)\, British problem composer. Her parents\, two brothers\, and daughter were all good players or clever problemists. \nShe composed over 2\,000 problems which were not profound but were noted for their soundness; only a dozen or so were faulted. Her Seven Hundred Chess Problems was published in 1902. She became deeply absorbed in retractors\, and her other book The Twentieth Century Retractor appeared in 1907. They are two of the most beautiful chess books ever to appear\, printed and bound by the King’s printer Henry Sotheran\, and sold at less than cost. \nThe Twentieth Century Retractor\nThe Twentieth Century Retractor\, Chess Fantasies\, and Letter Problems: Being a Selection of Three Hundred Problems\, Mrs WJ Baird\, London: Henry Sotheran and Co. 1902.\nThe Twentieth Century Retractor may be read online here. \nThe dedication for The Twentieth Century Retractor was somewhat unusual : \n“Dedicated to\nThe Sun\nThe Glorious Orb which\nAnimates and Beautifies\nThe Earth\nBy Giving It\nWarmth\, Light and Life” \nand Edward Winter discusses the beauty of the book in Chess Note 3164. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XLIV\, (44\, 1924)\, page 103 we have this brief obituary notice written by RC Griffth : \n“We much regret to hear of the death\, at Paignton\, on February 1st\, of Mrs. W.J. Baird\, much of the distinguished of women problem composers throughout the world. As our problem editors will no doubt deal fully with her work and her triumphs\, we shall say no more here that she took a keen interest in chess over-the-board also\, and in 1897 secured the county championship  of Sussex among players of her own sex. By birth she was a Winter-Wood and thus a member of a distinguished West of England chess family” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XLIV\, (44\, 1924)\, page 125 we have this obituary written by RC Griffth : \n“A deep shadow has been cast over the chess world by the death of Mrs. W.J. Baird\, which occurred on 1st February last at Paignton. The end was most unexpected\, but it is a comfort to her relatives that the passing away was peaceful. She was the daughter of Mr. T. Winter-Wood\, who and whose family have been identified with chess for generations. She was born in 1859 and composed her first problem in 1888\, and it was not long after this date that she was given the title of the “Queen of Chess\,” since not only did she distinguish herself in a happy way as a prolific composer\, but proved a valiant opponent over the board\, testified by her securing the ladies’ championship of Sussex in 1897. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in Two (2) \nAmong her other accomplishments were painting\, particularly illuminating\, poetry (which may have been inherited from her gifted father) and archery\, in which sport she was skilful. Her chess problems were generally of the light texture order never profound\, but always pleasing to the ordinary solver. She must have composed over 2\,000 problems of one sort or another\, and this large output in about thirty-five years could not be conducive to highest results. Her problem tourney honours were numerous\, though she did not as a rule see these\, generally entering her problems to oblige admiring conductors of competitions. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in Two (3) \nIn 1902 she published Seven Hundred Chess Problems and in 1907 The Twentieth Century Retractor\, Chess Fantasies and Letter Problems\, 320 illustrations (Sotheran & Co.). Both were editions de luxe. Mrs. Baird was credited with the being the originator of the complicated retractor of which she was a proficient exponent\, but since she ceased composing these fancies\, interest in them has waned. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in Three (4) \nDuring the last few years her activity\, after a period of quiescence has been marked\, her attention being directed principally to ‘Mutates’ and Picture or Letter Problems. In addition to the enthusiasm which\, shown by her actual work\, she has generously promoted several competitions\, one still current in the Morning Post\, particulars of which we announced last month. A remarkable feature of the deceased’s problems was their soundness less than one per cent. being cooked after leaving her hands\, evidence of painstaking application! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in Three (5) \nThere is now\, since the decease of Mrs. Baird’s father\, Mr. T. Winter-Wood and her brother\, Mr. E.J. Winter-Wood\, only Mr. Carslake Winter-Wood left to represent the family in the chess circle\, Mrs. Strong\, her daughter\, who at one time promised to emulate her mother\, having apparently abandoned the game and its problems. There can be no question that Mrs. Baird stood in front of all lady composers\, her nearest rival probably being the late Mrs. T. B. Rowland\, and indeed a number of her compositions rank high in the world’s collection. We have not space this month to quote specimens\, but hope to do so next issue. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in Three (6) \nSince the above was in type we have been informed of the sudden death of Mr. Carslake Winter-Wood on the 24th February.” \nThe Late Mrs. W. J. Baird\, \nThe Masters said:- \n“Lay by the board\, the problem is not sound;\nThere’s none can solve unless a Morphy’s found.”\n* * *\nA knight I saw\, his royal head bowed;\nMethought a bishop moved and prayed aloud.\nThe Queen\, alas\, and their attendants gone\,\nOnly did the Kings linger sadly on.\nAnd roaming far afield a Rook forlorn\,\nAnd here and there a long-forgotten pawn.\n“Oh! is there none who can this problem solve?”\n“Seek her round who our highest hopes revolve”\nAnd so we brought it to our ‘Problem Queen’\nWho faced the field with heart and eye serene.\n* * *\n“Go leave me now and I will rest awhile\,”\nThen hand outstretched and swift triumphant smile :\n“The Bishops move! with him the key\,” she cried –\n“Life’s problem solved at last! I’m satisfied.” \nM.S.M. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n \nWhite retracts his last move; then plays. Black moves so that White can mate at once. (7) \n(Please note that there are factual errors in most of the sources quoted below.) \nHere is her Wikipedia entry \nHere is more from chessproblem.net \nArticle from Tartajubow (but the author mistakenly conflates Edith and Lilian) on Edith Baird and other Bairds \nQueens of Problem Chess by Satanick Mukhuty from chessbase.com \nMore from Sarah Beth Durst (aka BatGirl)\, quoting from Gittins. \nVia the Wayback Machine Chess Devon have this excellent article \nBritish Chess News would like to thank Brian Denman for providing a file of Edith Baird’s games\, and Tim Harding\, for sending us the pdf of The Chess Bouquet. \nSolution to problems: \n(1) \n1.Qg7! (2.Qc7#)\n1…Kc6 2.c5 Kxc5 3.Qc7#\n1…Kxc4 2.Qd4+ Kb3 3.Qb4#\n1…Kb6 2.Sb5 Ka6/Ka5\, Kc6/Kc5 3.Qa7\, Qc7#\n1…Kd6 2.Sb5+ Ke6\, Kc7/Kc5 3.Sd4\, Qc7# \n(2) 1.Bg2 \n(3) 1.Qb2 \n(4) 1.Qh8 \n(5) 1.Nc1 \n(6) 1.Rd8 \n(7) White retracts Nd5xRb6\, then 1. Nd6 Rc6 2. Nb7# \n  \n  \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-edith-elina-helen-baird/ CATEGORIES:2023,Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BairdEdith-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201228 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201229 DTSTAMP:20201229T172508Z CREATED:20200409T195301Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201229T172508Z UID:4300-1609113600-1609199999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Charles (Mike) Bent (27-xi-1919 28-xii-2004) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Mike Bent who passed away on Tuesday\, December 28th 2004. \nCharles Michael Bent was born on Thursday\, 27th of November 1919 and in that year Charles was the fifth most popular boy’s name. \nHe was born in Portsmouth\, Hampshire. \nIn 1939 he was living at 5\, Ashburton Road\, Gosport with his mother Eileen B. Bent (née Hill) and was a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. \nHe wrote “Best of Bent: Composer’s Choice of His Chess Endgame Studies\, 1950-93” This was edited by TG Whitworth. \nThe Best of Bent\, CM Bent\, edited TG Whitworth\, July 1993\nHe died in Swindon on the 28th of December\, 2004 having last resided in Hungerford\, RG17. Whilst writing the Studies column for British Chess Magazine he resided at “Black Latches”\, Inkpen\, Newbury\, Berkshire. \n“Black Latches”\, Inkpen\, Newbury\, Berkshire\nThe C. M. Bent Memorial Composing Tourney was held in 2006-07. \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume XCV (95\, 1975)\, Number 1 (January)\, page 22 we have a charming introduction to CMB from the retiring editor of the Studies column\, AJ Roycroft : \n“A studies article without a diagram? Yes\, and without an apology either. Instead this introduced my successor\, Charles Michael Bent\, who is as remarkable without the chessboard as he is with it. Now since\, as at May 1974\, he has composed the total\, rarely exceeded by anyone\, of 670 studies (of which only 375 have been published)\, and about 600 problems (one tenth published)\, his other achievements and activities\, insofar as he can be persuaded to talk about them\, are worth recounting. \nMichael Bent has a passion for all-the-year-round tennis\, and loves the country life. Walking and climbing\, all-forms of do-it-yourself\, word-play nabla/del\, puzzles\, conjuring and listening to music make the mixture extraordinarily rich. Yet if there was a single word to characterise him it would be simplicity (his choice)\, with (my addition) a strong and individual sense of humour. \nPhysically he is a lean\, balding 54-year-old as fit as most men half his age. He played at Junior Wimbledon before the War and only three of four years back won the singles tennis championship of his half of Berkshire. He is a modest and delightful companion\, and to visit him and his wife Viola\, to whom he credits responsibility for the serenity of his condition and surroundings\, is a relaxing pleasure I always look forward to in my own hustled and tense London-centered existence. \nIn his own words he was never really a player of chess at all\, but first sight of problems (during the war) and endings (just after it) acted like fireworks on a dark night and lit an imagination which still lacks basic technical knowledge. So\, artistic rather than ‘scientific’\, have never knowingly composed a didactic study. Am told my ‘style’ is easily recognised. Am aware\, but perfectly content\, that I compose much that the expert will easily solve\, in the hope that the less initiated may be entertained and as attracted as I was in the beginning. \nThere is a feast\, including many surprises\, in store for you and me\, at the hands of your new chess-chef\, ‘CMB of the BCM’.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume 125 (2005)\, Number 2 (February)\, page 98 we have a brief obituary from John Beasley : \n“Charles Michael Bent died just over a month after his 85th birthday. Mike Bent had long been Britain’s leading composer of endgame studies\, he was a witty and entertaining writer on the subject (and on many others)\, and the pleasure he gave was rightly acknowledged by the granting in 2001 of one of the BCF President’s Awards for services to chess. \nBCM published his first study in 1950 and one of his last 50 years later\, and he was our endgame study columnist from January 1975 to March 1985. There will be a steady flow of quotations in Endgame Studies during the coming months. John Beasley” \nThe Studies column was taken over in April 1985 by Paul Lamford. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry (complete with errors). \nCMB won the BCF President’s Award in 2001. \nFrom The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“Born on the 27th November 1919\, Michael Bent has only one possible challenger\, Harold Lommer\, as the finest composer of endgame studies England has ever produced. Although up to October 1967\, he had composed 546 problems and 320 studies\, he now concentrates almost exclusively on studies. His 17 honoured studies include three 1st prizes. His partiality towards Knights is shown in the typical study selected here. \nMichael Bent was educated at the Royal Naval College\, Dartmouth\, but had to leave the Navy because of chronic sea-sickness. He served in the Rifle Brigade in the Second World War and afterwards became a rubber plant in Johore\, where he survived several terrorist attacks. How now lives with his wife in a Berkshire Village. \nApart from Chess\, Michael Bent has other recreations\, including wood carving\, stamp collecting\, composing crossword puzzles and butterfly collecting. His butterfly collection included 500 Malayan specimens. He is also a strong tennis player. Thirty-one years after playing at Wimbledon as a junior\, he won the Newbury and District singles title in 1967.” \nCM Bent\n2nd Honorable Mention\nNew Statesmen 1964 Tourney Award\,\n5th March 1965 \n  \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-charles-michael-bent-27-xi-1919-28-xii-2004/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/gif:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/27.11-Bent.gif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201218 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201219 DTSTAMP:20201030T175740Z CREATED:20191012T092904Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T175740Z UID:1515-1608249600-1608335999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Peter Copping (12-x-1922 18-xii-1989) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Peter Fairburn Copping (12-x-1922 18-xii-1989) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-peter-fairburn-copping-12-x-1922-18-xii-1989/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201217 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201218 DTSTAMP:20201219T104718Z CREATED:20201217T000114Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201219T104718Z UID:1759-1608163200-1608249599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Harold Lommer (18-xi-1904 17-xii-1980) DESCRIPTION:We remember Harold Lommer who passed away on December 17th\, 1980. \nHarold Maurice Lommer was born on Friday\, November 18th 1904 in Islington\, London to German parents. Curiously his birth entry was missing from the original record and has been inserted manually as an after-thought. Anyone know the reason for this? \nHe left England aged 4 in 1908 to live in Switzerland and returned to England in 1926. \nIn the 1939 Census Harold was a resident at 16a Gwendwr Road\, Barons Court\, Hammersmith\, London. \n16a Gwendwr Road\, Barons Court\, Hammersmith\, London\nAccording to the census record HML was living in a household of three persons and his occupation was that of Foreign Correspondent. \nIn 1949 Harold married Valija S Linkuns in Fulham. \nHe died in Valencia\, Provincia de València\, Valenciana\, Spain. \nHarold Maurice Lommer (18-XI-1904\, 17-XII-1980)\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld : \n“International Judge of Chess Compositions (1958)\, International Arbiter (1962)\, International Master for Chess Compositions (1974)\, the greatest British study composer. Born in Islington of German parentage\, he moved to Switzerland when he was four and returned to England 18 years later.\nInspired in his youth by the Saavedra study\, he\nbecame the leading specialist on promotion tasks\, and in 1933 was the first to show allumwandlung in a study\, which Rinck had declared was impossible. Lommer also showed in studies six consecutive promotions to rooks (1935) and a minimal with concurrent promotions to queen\, bishop\, and knight. (For another task record see star-flights.) After the Second World War he became proprietor of a Soho club\, where players and composers often met; in 1949 the club organized a small international tournament\, won by Bernstein\, Lommer retired in 1961 and went to live in Valencia\, where he died. \nIn 1939 Lommer and the English player Maurice A. Sutherland (d.1954)\, who backed the project\, published 1\,234 Modern End-game Studies. In 1975 Lommer compiled a sequel\, 1\,357 End-game Studies. These two collections\, catholic in taste\, made by a composer who was above all an artist\, have become standard works. Besides his studies\, the best of which are in these books\, he composed fairy problems.” \n1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, Lommer & Sutherland. Dover\, 1938 (originally\, this one 1967)\n1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, Lommer & Sutherland. Dover\, 1938 (originally\, this one 1967)\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970&1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies since 1958. Born on 18th November 1904 in London\, Harold Lommer’s parents were German and he was educated mainly in Switzerland. Since the late 1950s he has lived in Spain. He has composed about 1000 endgame studies and is joint author with MA Sutherland\, of the anthology 1234 Modern End-Game Studies\, published in 1938. He is particularly well-known for his under-promotion tasks\, but would prefer to be known for his other work as well. \nFor some 100 years up to 1957\, he was joint owner and manager of the Mandrake Club in Soho\, London\, used by many well-known chess players\, journalists and theatre personalities.” \n\nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88 we have this obituary from CM Bent : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 3 (March)\, pp. 86-88\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\n1357 End-Game Studies\nHarold Maurice Lommer (18-XI-1904\, 17-XII-1980) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-harold-maurice-lommer-18-xi-1904-17-xii-1980/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/131952404_692025961497155_5003435374905011370_n.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201216 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201217 DTSTAMP:20201216T152412Z CREATED:20190823T104100Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201216T152412Z UID:1076-1608076800-1608163199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Thomas Dawson (28-xi-1889 16-xii-1951) DESCRIPTION:We remember Thomas Dawson who passed away on Sunday\, December 16th\, 1951. \nHe was also known by the pseudonym T. Dyke Robinson (we are looking for a primary source for this) \nThomas Rayner Dawson was born on Thursday\, November 28th 1889 in Leeds\, Yorkshire to Henry and Jane Dawson (née Rayner). \nThe early history of TRD and his family has been meticulously researched by Yorkshire chess historian\, Steve Mann. We recommend you visit this page to discover the detail. \nAccording to Edward Winter in Chess Notes TRD lived at the following addresses : \n\n5 Clyde Road\, Wallington\, Surrey\, England (Ranneforths Schachkalender\, 1925\, page 139)\n2 Lyndhurst Road\, Thornton Heath\, Surrey\, England (Ranneforths Schach-Kalender\, 1930\, page 65).\n31 Clyde Road\, Croydon\, England (Fairy Chess Review\, issues from 1946 to 1949*).\n\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP\, 1984 & 1996)by Hooper & Ken Whyld : \n“English composer\, pioneer of both fairy problems and retrograde analysis. His problems in these fields form the greater part of his output (about 6\,500 compositions) and are better remembered than his studies and orthodox problems. For fairy problems he invented new pieces: grasshopper (1912) LEO (1912)\, NEUTRAL MAN (1912) NIGHT RIDER (1925)\, and VAO (1912); he codified new rules such as the maximummer (1913) and various kinds of series-mover; and he used unorthodox boards. \nIn 1915 he wrote Retrograde Analysis\, the first book on the subject\, completing the project begun several years earlier by the German composer Wolfgang Hundsdorfer (1879-1951). \nRetrograde Analysis\, Thomas Dawson & Hundsdorfer\, 1915\nFrom 1919 to 1930 Dawson conducted a column devoted to fairy problems in the Chess Amateur\, In 1926 he was a co-founder of The Problemist \, which he edited for its first six years and he founded and edited The Problemist Fairy Supplement (1931-6) continued as The Fairy Chess Review (1936-51). \nAsymmetry\, TR Dawson & Wolfgang Pauly\, Chess Amateur\, 1927\nBesides conducting columns in several newspapers and periodicals\, one of them daily and one in the Braille Chess Magazine\, Dawson edited the problem section of the British Chess Magazine from 1931 to 1951; he devised and published in its pages (1947-50) a systematic terminology for problem themes in the hope that it would supplant the extensive jargon then and now in use\, Dawson wrote five hooks on fairy problems: Caissa’s Wild Roses (1935); C. M. Fox\, His Problems (1936); Caissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters (1937); Ultimate Themes (1938); and Caissa’s Fairy Tales (1947). \nCaissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1937\nCharles Masson Fox (1866-1935) was a patron whose generosity made possible the publication of four of these books and the two fairy problem magazines founded by Dawson. Ultimate Themes deals with tasks\, another of Dawson’s favourite subjects. In 1973 all five books were republished in one volume. Five Classics of Fairy Chess. \nFive Classics of Fairy Chess\, TR Dawson\, Dover Publications Inc.; Revised edition (1 Sept. 1973)\nDawson found it difficult to understand the problemist’s idea of beauty because it is not susceptible to precise definition. The artist talks of “quiet” moves\, oblivious that they are White’s most pulverizing attacks! This aesthetic folly\, reverence\, response thrill to vain-glorious bombast runs throughout chess.(See Bohemian for a problem showing 16 model mates\, a task Dawson claimed as a record but a setting Bohemian composers would reject.) His genius did not set him apart from his fellows; he could find time for casual visitors and would explain his ideas to a tyro with patience\, modesty\, and kindness. Although he won many tourney prizes much of his work was designed to encourage others\, to enlarge the small band of fairy problem devotees\, He composed less for fame than to amuse himself\, confessing to another composer ‘We do these things for ourselves alone.’ \nCaissa’s Fairy Tales\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1947\nA chemistry graduate\, Dawson took a post in the rubber industry in 1922 and rose to be head of the Intelligence Division of the British Rubber Manufacturer for which he founded\, catalogued\, and maintained a technical library. Unwell for the last year of his life\, he died from a stroke. K. Fabel and C. E. Kemp\, Schach ohne Grenzen or Chess unlimited (1969) is a survey\, written in German and English\, of Dawson’s contribution to the art of fairy problems.” \nThomas Rayner Dawson (28-xi-1889 16-xii-1951)\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks : \n“British problemist. Born on 28th November 1889. Died on 16th December 1951. Universally known as TRD.\, the great master of Fairy problems. His wealth of invention held the chess world enthralled. His output comprised about 6\,400 problems and 150 studies. \nDawson was a nephew of the late James Rayner\, himself a noted chess problemist . From as early as about 1910\, TRD had conducted the ‘Chess Endings‘ section in the Chess Amateur\, and its Fairy section from 1919. He worked with BG Laws from Mark 1930 conducting the problem pages of the British Chess Magazine\, and following Laws’ death he assumed complete charge of the section from October 1931 to February 1951 when ill health forced him to relinquish the work. \nFairy Chess Review\nThe Problemist Fairy Chess Supplement subsequently renamed The Fairy Chess Review was started by TRD in August 1930. TRD was concerned in a number of other chess publications ; chess for the Blind\, several books of the AC White Christmas series\, BCPS Honours 1926-29\, and the CM Fox series. \nHe was largely instrumental in the publication of the first issue of The Problemist on 1st January 1926\, and was editor until May 1931. He was President of The British Chess Problem Society from September 1931 to 1943. \nUltimate Themes\, TR Dawson\, Chess Amateur\, 1938\nApart from chess\, Thomas Dawson\, MSc\, FRIC\, FIRI was an international authority on rubber\, and was responsible for the creation of the world-famous rubber library at Croydon\, as well as its ‘Dawson’ system of rubber literature documentation. A Guide to Fairy Chess and The Problemist March 1952 detail the remarkable life-time accomplishments of TRD.” \nFrom British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXI (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 78-80 we have notice of the retirement of TRD written by Brian Reilly : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nFollowing that we have this appreciation from the incoming Problem Editor\, Stanley Sedgwick of 337 Strone Road\, Manor Park\, London E12 : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXX1 (71\, 1951)\, Number 3 (March) pp. 77 – 80.\nUnfortunately TRD was to pass away not much more than a year after the retirement notice and in British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108 we have this obituary also from Stanley Sedgwick : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nThe same obituary contains the following appreciate by Gerald Abrahams : \nBritish Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXII (72\, 1952)\, Number 4 (April) pp. 107 – 108\nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Thomas Rayner Dawson (28 November 1889 – 16 December 1951) was an English chess problemist and is acknowledged as “the father of Fairy Chess”.[1] He invented many fairy pieces and new conditions. He introduced the popular fairy pieces grasshopper\, nightrider\, and many other fairy chess ideas. \nDawson published his first problem\, a two-mover\, in 1907. His chess problem compositions include 5\,320 fairies\, 885 directmates\, 97 selfmates\, and 138 endings. 120 of his problems have been awarded prizes and 211 honourably mentioned or otherwise commended. He cooperated in chess composition with Charles Masson Fox. \nDawson was founder-editor (1922–1931) of The Problemist\, the journal of the British Chess Problem Society. He subsequently produced The Fairy Chess Review (1930–1951)\, which began as The Problemist Fairy Chess Supplement. At the same time he edited the problem pages of The British Chess Magazine (1931–1951). \nPublications \nCaissa’s Playthings a series of articles in Cheltenham Examiner (1913)\nRetrograde Analysis\, with Wolfgang Hundsdorfer (1915)\nFata Morgana\, with Birgfeld\, Nanz\, Massmann\, Pauly (1922)\nAsymmetry\, with W. Pauly (1928)\nSeventy Five Retros (1928)\nCaissa’s Wild Roses (1935)\nC. M. Fox\, His Problems (1936)\nCaissa’s Wild Roses in Clusters (1937)\nUltimate Themes (1938)\nCaissa’s Fairy Tales (1947)\nThe last five titles were collected as Five Classics of Fairy Chess\, Dover Publications (1973)\, ISBN 978-0-486-22910-2.” \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-thomas-rayner-dawson/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DawsonThomasRayner.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201215 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201216 DTSTAMP:20201030T163431Z CREATED:20200323T141033Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T163431Z UID:3700-1607990400-1608076799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Thomas Ricketts (03-vii-1896 15-xii-1979) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary for Thomas Charles Donald Ricketts (03-vii-1896 15-xii-1979) \nSee Sunnucks \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-thomas-charles-donald-ricketts-03-vii-1896-15-xii-1979/ CATEGORIES:Composer,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201213 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201214 DTSTAMP:20201213T110541Z CREATED:20191213T140256Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201213T110541Z UID:2387-1607817600-1607903999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Colin Sydenham (13-xii-1937) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of Colin Peter Sydenham (13-xii-1937) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-colin-peter-sydenham-13-xii-1937/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Player,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/13.12-colin_sydenham.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201213 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201214 DTSTAMP:20201212T223944Z CREATED:20191213T135517Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201212T223944Z UID:2383-1607817600-1607903999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of David Shire (13-xii-1947) DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday to David Shire. \nDavid John Shire was born on Saturday\, December 13th 1947. On the same day “Ballerina” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores record chart. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-david-j-shire-13-xii-1947/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Player,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JUA3089-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201203 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201204 DTSTAMP:20211202T104020Z CREATED:20200323T140601Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211202T104020Z UID:3698-1606953600-1607039999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of A(lfred) Christopher Reeves (19-ii-1939 03-xii-2012) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Dr. A(lfred) Christopher Reeves who passed away on Monday\, December 3rd\, 2012 in St. Agnes\, Cornwall. His probate record (#4073868) is dated December 3rd\, 2012 being recorded in the Bristol registry. \nAlfred Christopher Reeves was born in Wharfedale\, Yorkshire on Sunday\, February 19th\, 1939. His mother’s name was Tomlin. \nAlfred detested his first name to the extent that he asked people to call him Christopher and\, when asked\, told them that the A was for Arthur. For this reason much of the chess literature uses Arthur whereas public records use Alfred. \nIn British Chess Magazine\, Volume 133 (2013)\, Number 1 (January)\, page 2 we have this obituary from James Pratt: \n“Alfred Christopher Reeves (Leeds\, 19 ii 1939 – St Agnes?\, 3 xii 2012). Chris Reeves was a FIDE Master of Composition. He toyed with entering the priesthood but became a child psychotherapist. He started composing (“…my solace and diversion …”) in 1960\, largely specialising in the orthodox two move field. Though not a prolific composer\, his work was known worldwide.\nHe was Sub-Editor of The Problemist” \nFrom the The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford\, 1977)\, Harry Golombek OBE\, John Rice writes: \n“British problemist\, output consists of skilfully constructed two-movers in the modern style.” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976)\, Anne Sunnucks wrote: : \n“Problem composer. Since 1960 he has composed about 70 modern-style two movers\, and is considered to be one of the most talented British composers. His originality and technique enable him to build into tangible form what would be no more than a passing idea for most composers. He has edited the problem section of Correspondence Chess\, and he controlled BCF tourneys and International Team matches.” \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson we have this: \n“I was born on February 19th\, 1939\, the second son of a doctor who practised in a busy Yorkshire coal-mining town. As a youngster I acquired a taste for chess problems as soon as I learnt the moves of the game. \nI owe my initiation to the admirable column which DM Davey used to run in the weekly review The Tablet and to the enterprise of one of the masters of the boarding school to which I was sent when still quite young. Davey’s column catered for novice chess problemists like myself by conducting graded solving tournaments with modest handicaps. \nThese tournaments ran conveniently the length of the school term\, just long enough to sustain a young person’s enthusiasm\, The teacher in question used to put the week’s problem up on the school noticeboard and dozens of small schoolboys participated as a result. The Tablet column was not only a boon for beginners like me. It had a very discriminating band of solvers who were given ample space to express their views on each week’s problems. This had the additional effect of making it a popular forum for budding composers who need the stimulus and encouragement of audience response in what is\, after all\, a very solitary sort of pastime. \nMy fascination with chess problems soon diverted my energies away from the game itself. I was eight when I began solving. Another 13 years elapsed before I seriously tried my hand at composing. My immediate inspiration was the example of the then young trio of British composers\, Barry Barnes\, Michael Lipton and John Rice. Their latest work incorporating\, try-play\, and often exploiting complex patterns of relationships between mates\, was regarded as unacceptably\, ultramodern\, in some quarters but found ready appreciation with the solvers of Davey’s column. \nOther sorts of problems I had enjoyed; these I wanted to emulate. The powerful attraction their work had on me has made me chary ever since of the strictures of self-appointed guardians of chess problem ‘taste’\, who suggest that the modern two-mover cannot hold the same interest for the solver as the more traditional type. It certainly did not have a negative effect on me. \nProblem I was one of my earliest compositions\, in fact the first to gain any sort of award. At the time I was a theological student destined for the priesthood. I recall having felt some scruples about indulging in the frivolous pastime of chess problem composition not that it prevented me from becoming thoroughly addicted! \nI have found that a bad conscience makes a good chess problem\, and the greatest spur for composition is the feeling that one should really be busy doing something else. The problem shows a duel between the white queen and the black knight on d5\, each of whose eight possible moves feature as a unique defence against one of the white queen tries. Solvers have often found the key to this problem’ quite elusive. \nProblem I \nThe Tablet\, 30th June\, 1962 \n3rd Honorary Mention BCPS Ring Tournament \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \n1.Qa1?…Nc7!\n1.Qa4?…Nb6!\n1.Qb1?…N5b4!\n1.Qc1?…Nc3!\n1.Qe1?…Ne3!\n1.Qf1?…N5f4!\n1.Qg4?…Nf6!\n1.Qg1?…Ne7! \nKey! Qb3! \nThe 1960s were my golden period of problem composition. They were my solace and diversion as I passed by way of theological studies through an Oxford degree to the foothills of a different career from the one I had originally envisaged\, not the ‘cure of souls’ but the management and treatment of emotionally disturbed children and their families. By the end of the decade I was\nalready engaged in working as a Child Psychotherapist. Since then I have found that human problems have tended to displace my former involvement with problems of the chess pieces. Whereas\nbetween 1960 and 1970 I composed seventy problems\, in the subsequent decade I could manage only a dozen more. The reason for this slowing down in production\, however\, has not only been the demands of personal\, family and professional life. \nAs a composer I have concentrated almost exclusively on the orthodox two-move field\, one which if not yet exhausted nevertheless presents a major challenge to the composer to find something new to say or some new way of saying it. It is no accident (though I admit to a slight feeling of regret) of heterodox problems has expanded enormously in the past few years. \nOf my eighty or so problems\, fifty have been honoured in tournaments\, ten with First prizes\, ten with other prizes and the rest with Honourable Mentions and Commendations. My ambition is to\nreach a respectable century of compositions\, though I being to wonder whether I shall ever make the mark. I would also like to reach the FIDE Master norm for problem composition. I have\nhad twenty of my problems included in the triennial FIDE Albums so far\, a few of them joint compositions. Here again\, however\, my productivity (or lack of it) may eventually tell against me. \nStill\, the problemist must always keep the business of honours in perspective. Composing problems is an essentially private business. Your opponent is the power of the pieces\, not a fellow sitting opposite Vou. Unlike the chess player\, one can keep one’s defeats to oneself when one puts the pieces away after a fruitless evening pondering over a board\, so it seems only fair that\none’s successes likewise should be modestly recorded. \nBy a coincidence two of the three problems which I have selected to round off this brief note about myself and my compositions are ones which got no recognition from the tournament judge\nat the time\, although I count them amongst my best works. \nI have chosen a trio of problems all roughly on the same theme\, namely\, the four possible moves of the pawn from its starting square. In chess problem parlance this is called the BP4M* theme when applied to the Black pawn\, and the Albino theme when applied to the White pawn. \nII and III show two ways in which four mates can be provided to meet each of the BP4M moves\, only to be changed in the next phase of play. In II\, the change is between mates set before the key and those operative after it; in III\, the change is more radical\, involving the transfer of the WR from one position to another\, thereby creating two separate but related (or ‘twin’) problems. Incidentally\, a good way to begin to get a taste of what composing involves is to take a problem like III and try to express the theme in full (here the changed BP4M) without resorting to the twinning device. \nMy last example\, IV\, shows a duel between white and black pawns\, with the four Albino tries being met by the four possible BP4M defences. \n(* BP4M is BCNs replacement for a word starting with p now considered by some as offensive.). \nWhilst the player may rejoice in a victory soundly accomplished I can think of few pleasures to compare with the satisfaction which comes from accomplishing the sort of task which IV entails\, especially when one is fairly sure that it has not been successfully achieved before. For me\, at all events\, this is what two-mover chess problem composition is all about: its is the ‘art if the all-but-impossible’!” \nProblem II \nDie Schwalbe August\, 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \n1…dxc6+ 2. Bxc6\n1…d6 2.Nd5\n1…d5 2.Qb4\n1…dxe6 2.Bc8 \nKey 1.Qxe5! (2.exd7) \n1…dxc6 2.Nxc6\n1…d6 2.Qf6\n1…d5 2.Qc7\n1…dxe6 2.Qxe6\n1…Rd5+ 2.Nd5 \nProblem III \n1st Prize \nProblemist Twin Tournament 1966-67 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \nProblem IV \nProbleemblad\, May\, 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in 2 \nClearly Chris was a hugely popular figure in the problem world. Here is a collection of tributes from the BCPS. \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-alfred-christopher-reeves-19-ii-1939-3-xii-2012/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201203 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201204 DTSTAMP:20191214T143821Z CREATED:20190823T182153Z LAST-MODIFIED:20191214T143821Z UID:1098-1606953600-1607039999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Christopher Reeve (03-XII-2012) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Christopher Reeve (03-XII-2012) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-christopher-reeve/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201125 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201126 DTSTAMP:20201123T173527Z CREATED:20190823T110243Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201123T173527Z UID:1078-1606262400-1606348799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary for Anthony Dickins (01-xi-1914 25-xi-1987) DESCRIPTION:We remember Anthony Dickins who passed away this day (Wednesday\, November 25th) in 1987. \nAnthony Stewart Mackay Dickins was born at 1 Rivers Street\, Bath\, Somerset on Sunday\, November 1st\, 1914. On this day was the Battle of Coronel — The Royal Navy suffered its first defeat of World War I\, after a British squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock met and was defeated by superior German forces led by Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee in the eastern Pacific. \n1\, Rivers Street\, Bath\, Somerset\, BA1 2QA\nAnthony’s parents were Frederick and Florence Dickins (née Mackay) Frederick was a Captain in the Royal Artillery and was born on 25th November 1879\, commissioned on May 26th 1900. He became a Colonel on 26th May 1930 and retired November 25th 1936. He was alive in 1972 (aged 92) and living in Bexhill passing away aged 101/102. He was awarded the CIE which is “Companion\, Order of the Indian Empire in 1914”. \nAnthony was baptised on December 29th in Seend\, Wiltshire. Anthony had a brother Frederick James Douglas born in 1907 who married Nellie or Peggie Moist (records are unclear). \nIt would appear that Florence and Anthony (aged 5) travelled to Bombay from Plymouth on board the SS City of York (Ellerman Lines) departing December 26th\, 1919 presumably to visit his father in India. The ships master was J. McKellan. \nAt the time of the 1939 Census Anthony was residing in the Tavistock Hotel in Tavistock Square. His occupation was given as journalist and editor and described as single. \nFrom the Hull Daily Mail (extant and renamed Hull Live) of March 4th\, 1939 we have this part review of a magazine called The Joys of Poetry. Anthony was the editor : \nHull Daily Mail\, 4th March 1939\nHe died in Lambeth Wednesday\, November 25th) in 1987. We have yet to determine where he was buried or cremated. \nFrom http://chesscomposers.blogspot.com/2012/10/november-1st.html : \n“Anthony Dickins wrote A Guide to Fairy Chess (1967) and other books about fairy chess. He edited the column of non-original fairy problems for “The Problemist”. He was specialized in constructional problems and was also an International Judge.” \nAnthony Stewart Mackay Dickins\nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1984)\, Botterill\, Levy\, Rice and Richardson : \n(article by JM Rice) \n“Chess first entered my life seriously about 1950 at the well-known Mandrake Social and Chess Club in Meard Street\, Soho\, run by Harold Lommer and Boris Watson. Purely literary connections took me there in the first place\, as it was a rendezvous for the literary fraternity\, such as Dylan Thomas\, David Gascoyne and others. \nAfter the war Harold converted a small wine-vault into a tiny cramped chess-room\, with some dozen tables and boards. Many well-known\npersonalities in the world of Chess were occasional visitors\, such as Grandmasters Ossip Bernstein\, Paul Keres\, Jacques Mieses and Friedrich Sämisch; British Champions Willy Winter\, Bob Wade and Dr. Fazekas; M. J. Franklin\, now a British Master\, and the Problemists\, Dr. E. T. O. Slater and B. J. da C. Andrade. Mieses was then in his late eighties and charged a fee of half-a-crown (12.5 pence) for a game. When his name was mispronounced ‘Mister My-ziz’ he would say ‘I am Meister Mieses\, not Mister My-ziz’. \nSämisch once played fourteen of us blindfold\, defeating all except one\, a very strong Indian player\, Atta\, who obtained a draw. My regular ‘partners’ were Vicki Weiss\, the famous cartoonist\, his brother Oscar\, Richard Crewdson\, Mr Keller (a professional who played sharply for a shifty shilling)\, Brian Mason\, Colin ‘Puffer’ Evans\, (whose strategy was to puff cigarette ash and smoke all over the board to bemuse the opponent) and Bob Troy (who always fell fast asleep immediately after making each move and had to be wakened on his next turn to play). There was a juke-box in the next room constantly blaring forth pop and bop. Most of all I played with Alex Distler\, and with him always’variants of the game’ like Cylindrical Chess\, Rifle Chess\, Progressive Chess\, or the Losing Game. \nIn this colourful and inspiring\, if rather smoky and noisy\, atmosphere I composed my first six chess problems\, helpmates and cylindricals\, though I did not then know of the existence of Problem books or magazines\, nor had I heard of Sam Loyd\, Max Lange\, or T. R. Dawson when the Mandrake closed in the late fifties and Harold Lommer retired to Spain to write his two monumental works on Endgame Studies. \nFor the next 10 years or so I played at the West London and Athenaeum Chess Clubs\, for Middlesex County and at Hastings congresses\, meanwhile regularly solving the problems in the two evening newspapers for practice. \nIn 1965\, in my 51st year\, I discovered chess-problem magazines and the British Chess Problem Society\, and was soon asked by John Rice to join the Fairy\nChess Correspondence Circle\, whose director\, W. Cross\, perhaps the greatest solver of all time\, guided my early footsteps in fairyland. At this point I compiled for my own use a summary of all the usual rules and conventions in Fairy Chess\, as these were numerous and complicated. It occurred to me that a few other people might also welcome such a summary\, so I put it into book form as A Guide to Fairy Chess\, which I published by myself in 1967 under the imprint ‘The O Press’\, a pun on the name ‘Kew’ where I was then living. \nA Guide to Fairy Chess\nTo my amazement it had rave reviews (‘the comprehensive work\, so long awaited’\, ‘more like an encyclopaedia’\, ‘the bible of Fairy Chess’) and sold like hot cakes\, going into three editions\, each one enlarged and revised\, the third produced by Dover Publications\, New York\, in 1971. Two years later I edited Dover’s publication of T. R. Dawson’s Five Classics of Fairy Chess. \nFive Classics of Fairy Chess\, TR Dawson\nIn 1970 I flew to the States to spend a few days in the J. G. White collection in Cleveland\, Ohio\, researching historical material on Fairy Chess. This Ohio collection has the largest chess library in the world\, and to my surprise I found that it contains also ‘every book or article ever written on or about ‘Omar Khayyam and Alice in Wonderland . To find oneself suddenly and unexpectedly transported\, as if by magic carpet\, into a superbly organised library with the most complete collections in the world of the three subjects that happen to be one’s own three principal literary interests is an experience that must approach closely to entering Nirvana\, and I am happy to have had it. This visit enabled me to write A Short History of Fairy Chess (1975) and to give the lecture Alice in Fairyland to the Lewis Carroll Society in London\, published in their journal Jabberwocky and reprinted by myself in 1976 (2nd edn 1978) . \nA Short History of Fairy Chess\, ASM Dickins\nIn 1972 I decided to present my (by then) extensive collection of Fairy Chess books and magazines to my old university library at Cambridge to prevent the possible break-up of the collection as a single unit\, and to ensure that at least one fairly complete Fairy Chess collection was retained in Britain. \nIn 1968 I was invited to open a Fairy Chess section in The Problemist\, organ of the BCPS\, which I handed over to Dr. C. C. L. Sells in 1970\, and from 1974 to 1981 I ran another column in that magazine called ‘Other Types’. This chess journalism has brought me into touch with many problemists\, and made many friends for me\, in foreign countries. \nIn 1967\, on a visit to Mannheim for the Schwalbe annual meeting\, I met Wilhelm Karsch\, then editor of Feenschach\, and in 1968 in Munich I again met Dr. Karl Fabel\, whom I first came to know in London in 1967\, and also Peter Kniest\, one of the two present editors of Feenschach. In 1969\, on a visit to Paris\, a meeting was arranged for me at the late Jean Oudot’s flat\, with Pierre Monr6al\, J. P. Boyer\, F. de Lionnais (author of the Dictionnaire des Echecs) and other French problemists\, and altogether I have attended twenty three major problemist meetings in various countries\, including FIDE meetings in The Hague\, Wiesbaden\, Canterbury and Helsinki. It has been my constant aim to try to encourage and cultivate the practice and study of Fairy Chess and to keep alive the great legacy that T.R. Dawson left to the world when he died in 1951. \nIn recent years I have developed close relations with the younger generation of West German problemists\, who are very active in Fairy Chess\, centred round 29-year-old Bernd Ellinghoven\, who helps Peter Kniest to edit Feenschach and who printed my last booklet\, Fairy Chess Problems (1979)\, containing\npoems as well as problems\, combined in a new kind of fairy technique\, for I believe that Fairy Chess represents in many ways the ‘poetry’ of Chess. \nFAIRY CHESS PrOblems (1979)\nFor\nthe 50th birthday of T. R. Dawson on the 28th November 1939 a certain Dr Lazarus of Budapest wrote in Fairy Chess Review: ‘T. R. D. these three\nletters represent a conception in the Poetry of Chess which is amongst the most ingenious of all its turns\, one of its most strange and interesting phases… Without T.R.D. human culture would lack a factor in its development’. Those people (and there are some) who would banish Fairy Chess altogether from Caissa’s realm resemble the iron-hearted Mr. Gradgrinds who would abolish romance\, mystery\, poetry\, invention\, discovery and imagination from human life. \nFairy Chess Review\nElsewhere I have written: ‘The Game for Murderers\, The Problem for Philosophers\, Fairy Chess for Sufis’\, because the aim of the game-player is to ‘mate’ (kill) the opponent (from Arabic\, mat _ dead)\, while the problemist has no personal opponent to kill\, but merely a philosophical problem to resolve. In Fairy Chess\, however\, the adept is transported to another plane of existence\, to an ‘undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns’\,to new’dimensions’ of thought (as in 3- and 4-dimensional problems) – in short\, to Fairyland\, to Nirvana. \nThe three problems represent my early\, middle and later compositions. The helpmate in three moves (Black plays first in a helpmate) is a miniature culminating in an ideal Mate. C. H. O’D. Alexander was much tickled by what he called ‘the deceptive pawn’ on a2\, which unexpectedly does not promote. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe Construction Task with 113 White moves\, all ‘maintaining’ the legal stalemate position in which Black finds himself\, is a standing record that defeated the previous record of 112 such moves obtained independently by six problemists in six countries\, one of them an lnternational Master of FIDE. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nThe Knight’s Tour is one of the oldest genres of Fairy Chess\, dating from the earliest days of chess\, and in TR Dawson’s Fairy Chess Review he published many of them.\, including some that showed the ‘square numbers’ (1\,4\,9\,16\,25\,36\,49\,64) all on one rank – in the present example I have added the extra strict condition that as many as possible of the numbers 1 to 16 must be in the SW corner and as many as possible of the numbers 1 to 32 must be in the W half of the board. \nFor two reasons the perfect ideal in this task cannot be attained\, firstly because of the given position of the number 25\, and secondly because it is not possible to make a Knight’s tour on a 4 x 4 board in the SW corner. \nSolutions : \n1. Helpmate\, Evening News\, 20th February 1957 dedicated to Harold Lommer \nHelpmate in 3 moves \n1. Kd5 Nb1\n2. Kc4 e8=Q\n3. Kb3 Qb5 mate \n2. Construction Task Record\, Feenschach 9341 Sep/Oct 1969 dedicated to Karl Fabel \n113 unforced stalemate maintenances with Promotion in Play (Pawn promotions count as 4 moves) unforced as W has some moves that do not maintain stalemate\, so he is not ‘forced’ to maintain it. \n3. Knight’s Tour Chessics 5(180) July\, 1978 dedicated to D. Nixon. \nKnights tour with\na) All square number on 4th rank\nb) maximum of 1-16 in SW quad\nc) maximum of 1-32 in W half \nKnight’s tour solution from ASM Dickins\n100 Classics of the Chessboard\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-for-anthony-stewart-mackay-dickens/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IMG-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201109 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201110 DTSTAMP:20201030T105554Z CREATED:20190823T175611Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201030T105554Z UID:1086-1604880000-1604966399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Charles Edward Kemp (09-xi-1986) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Charles Edward Kemp (09-xi-1986) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-charles-edward-kemp/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201009 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201010 DTSTAMP:20211009T100528Z CREATED:20191016T160417Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211009T100528Z UID:1562-1602201600-1602287999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Norman Gibbins (15-x-1882 09-x-1956) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Norman Martin Gibbins (15-x-1882 09-x-1956) \nSee http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2013/5/28/war-in-another-dimension \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-norman-martin-gibbins/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200920 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200921 DTSTAMP:20210920T225258Z CREATED:20190920T100224Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210920T225258Z UID:1405-1600560000-1600646399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Hugh Blandford (24-i-1917 20-ix-1981) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Hugh Blandford who was a British composer. \nHugh Francis Blandford was born on Wednesday\, January 24th in 1917 in South Stoneham\, Hampshire\, England. \nOn this day Ernest Borgnine was born and an earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude struck Anhui Province\, China\, causing 101 deaths. \nHugh’s father was the Rev Albert Francis Blandford and his mother was Alice Rhoda Crumpton Evans. Hugh had two younger brothers\, Philip Thomas. and Evan Arthur. \nThe family moved to Jamaica and he spent his early childhood there until he was nine years old when they sailed from Kingston\, Jamaica with his family to Bristol on board the SS Carare (Elders & Fyffes Line) : \nPassenger Manifest (part) for SS Carare \, 30th May 1926.\nHis mother Alice Rhoda Crumpton passed away on 19 July 1964 in Minehead\, Somerset\, at the age of 79. \nHis father Rev Albert Francis passed away in December 1967 in Somerset at the age of 79. \nHe had three children during his marriage. \nHe died in Hatfield\, Hertfordshire on Sunday\, September 20th\, 1981. \nBlandford is also known for participating in defining the GBR (Guy\, Blandford Roycroft) code. \nIn 1961 he was awarded the title of “International Judge of the FIDE for Chess Composition” \nCM Bent wrote the following obituary in the British Chess Magazine\, Volume CI (101\, 1981)\, Number 12 (December)\, page 532 : \n“The modest and self-effacing composer who formerly conducted our Studies column from 1951-1972 died in September. His work as a metallurgist and his family responsibilities allowed him to make periodical contributions over a long span and to offer us many of his own original compositions. \nHis style\, as with his manner\, was essentially quiet and it was a rarity for him to compose anything other than wins. \nHis last voluntary labour was to compile an index for E.G. of all studies published there to date. His loss to the world of of studies will be greatly felt. \nThe first prize winner below is a classic of exquisite refinement and matches the immaculate handwriting which was always such an elegant feature of his work” \nStudies by Hugh Francis Blandford\nSolutions to studies by Hugh Francis Blandford\nSee more of his compositions here from the arves.org database. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“British study composer and FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies. Born on 24th January 1917. Since July 1951\, Hugh Blandford has conducted the Endings Section of the British Chess Magazine. By profession a metallurgist\, he was married and had two children. Of his 60 or more studies he was best known for the excelsior theme.” \nFrom Wikipedia : \n\nHugh Francis Blandford (24 January 1917 – 20 September 1981) was a chess endgame composer born in Southampton\, England.[1]\nHe spent several years of his childhood in Jamaica with his father\, the Reverend Albert Francis (Frank) Blandford\, a Minister in the Congregational church\, his mother and two younger brothers\, Evan Arthur and Philip Thomas Blandford. All three brothers then returned to England and attended Eltham College (the School for the Sons of Missionaries) in South-east London\, while their parents remained in Jamaica. He married Marjorie Cox\, whom he had worked with during the Second World War. \nHe played chess from his schooldays and as well as playing\, also started to compose original chess endings. He became known in the field of chess endgame studies for a small but elegant body of compositions\, expertly edited and published after Hugh’s death by his long-standing chess endings colleague\, John Roycroft.[2] \n\n1st Prize\, Springaren 1949\, White to move and win\n\nHugh Blandford was co-inventor with Richard Guy – and\, later\, with John Roycroft – of the Guy–Blandford–Roycroft code for classifying studies.[3] In July 1951 he began as the endgame study editor for the British Chess Magazine.[4][5] He was made an International Judge for Chess Composition[4] in 1961.[6] \nA metallurgist\, he continued to compose chess endgame studies until the end of his life\, dying of a heart attack in early retirement in Hatfield\, England\, on 20 September 1981.\n \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-hugh-francis-blandford/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Studies,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/BlandfordBook.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200801 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200802 DTSTAMP:20210727T151337Z CREATED:20190823T101754Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210727T151337Z UID:1070-1596240000-1596326399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Barry Barnes (01-viii-1937) DESCRIPTION:BCN wishes happy birthday to Barry Barnes (01-viii-1937) \nBarry Peter Barnes was born in Brighton and his mother’s maiden name was Simpole. (Barry is a cousin of Julian Ivan Peter Simpole\, who was a Brighton school teacher and who taught Edward Gerard Winter to play chess). \nBarry now lives in Halling\, Rochester\, Kent with his wife Jean. \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Master of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967) and International Judge of FIDE for Chess Compositions (1967). \nBorn on 1st August 1937\, Barnes works in transport advertising. He has composed about 250 two-move problems. With Lipton and Rice\, he has contributed to the advance of the modern two-mover. Problem Editor of Two-Move and Twin sections of The Problemist. Co-author with M.Lipton and JM Rice of The Two-Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development (Faber and Faber 1966). \nBarry Peter Barnes\n  \nBP Barnes\n2nd Prize Problem T.T. 1964 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in two moves \n(a) Diagram\n(b) With black pawn at KN2 (g7) \n(a) Solution\n1. B-R3! \n(b) Solution 1. K-K2! \nFrom British Chess (Pergamon Press\, 1983) by GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson : \nBarry wrote about himself as follows : \n“A promising career as a county chess player came to an end when I was given Brian Harley’s classic book Mate in Two Moves in the belief that it would help my chess\, but it had quite the opposite effect. My interest in competitive chess waned\, and I was on the road to an an International Master title for problems! \nEarly influences in my problem career were the weekly chess problem solving competition in The Observer (my first problem published there was in 1955)\, a teenage friendship with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton (both now lnternational Masters)\, Herbert Grasemann’s book Problem Schach / with its near revolutionary post-war German problem ideas\, and the expert British problemist\, A. R. Gooderson who had I but known it only a few years earlier was the officiating master when my Hove Grammar School played Steyning Grammar at chess. \nIn the late 1950s and early 1960s\, the genuinely original problems I was making in cooperation and in competition with Rice and Lipton were being published mostly abroad in such specialist problem magazines as Die Schwatbe (with its inspired two-move editor\, Hermann Albrecht) where I gained the epithet\,the English prize-snatcher’! It was also written that the work of the avant_garde composers\, Rice\, Lipton and Barnes\, was like a fresh two-move wind blowing from our island. It was sad but true at that time that the specialist magazine of the British Chess problem Society (founded 1918)\, The problemist\, was unreceptive to change and our often bizarre ideas. \nA milestone of sorts was reached when I won lst prize for problem I in 1958\, a prize for the best new problem by a member of the British Commonwealth aged under 21. In 1966\, I was invited by problemist Grandmaster Comins Mansfield\, who was President of the FIDE Problem Commission\, to act as Secretary at the Barcelona meeting. With Mr. Mansfield’s retirement\, I became the British Member to the Commission\, and at the Wiesbaden meeting\, 1974\, I was elected 2nd Vice-President. (1st Vice-President from 1982) \nThe FIDE Problem Commission meets annually to discuss matters relating to all branches of problem chess\, to organize the World Chess Composing Tournament (WCCT)\, the World Chess Solving Competition (WCSC)\, and to publish FIDE Album anthologies of the best problems. It was on the strength of my success in these FIDE Albums that the Commission granted me the titles in 1967 of ‘lnternational Master of the FIDE for Chess Composition’ and ‘lnternational Judge of the FIDE for Chess Composition’. Since 1974\, I have been Chairman of the Titles Sub-Committee of the Commission. \nSince 1965\, I have been the two-move editor of The Problemist and have served almost without break on the BCPS Committee. I have contributed to The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks (Robert Hale\, 1970)\, I am co-author\, with J. M. Rice and M. Lipton\, of The Two-Move Chess Problem: Tradition & Development‘ (Faber A Faber\, 1966)\, and I am the sole author of Comins Mansfield MBE: Chess Problems of a Grandmaster: (British Chess Problem Society\, 1976) and Pick of the Best Chess Problems (Elliot Right Way Books\, 1976) \nTo date I have made just over 300 two-movers and some helpmates.” \nThe Two Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development\nPick of the best Chess Problems\nSource: The Problemist\, May 1996. Photo taken March 1996 at the Mansfield Centenary Meeting at Paisley\, when Barry Barnes delivered a lecture on Comins Mansfield. Left to right: Geoffrey Mansfield (son of Comins)\, Robert Gray and Barry Barnes\, International Master of Chess Composition.\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-barry-peter-barnes/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Problemist,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bpbarnes.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200725 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200726 DTSTAMP:20210710T143636Z CREATED:20190824T104231Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210710T143636Z UID:1159-1595635200-1595721599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of (Arthur) John Roycroft (25-vii-1929) DESCRIPTION:We are delighted to offer (Arthur) John Roycroft best wishes on his birthday\, this day (July 25th) in 1929. \nJohn was born in Hendon\, London and his mother’s maiden name was Banks. \nAJR aged 9\, courtesy of the BCPS web site.\nJohn moved to Brighton and then evacuated to Calcot\, North Wales and returned to Brighton when the threat had subsided. \nHe married Betty in 1961 and they had a son and a daughter and now have several grand children. \nHe claimed that he had never suffered a common cold. \nJohn is Platinum Life Member of the English Chess Federation and an “ECF Supporter”. \nThe Chess Endgame Study\n“From The Oxford Companion to Chess (Oxford University Press\, 1984) by David Hooper and Ken Whyld : \nEnglish study composer and author\, International Judge of Chess Compositions (1959)\, Computer systems analyst. \nIn 1965 he founded EG\, quarterly publication which became the world’s first and only long-running magazine devoted wholly to studies. \nHis Test Tube Chess (1972)\, the best English language guide to the art of studies.\, was revised and republished as The Chess Endgame Study (1981). \nStudies are commonly classified by means of the GBR code of which he was co-inventor.” \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale\, 1970 & 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“FIDE Judge of Endgame Studies. Born on 25th July 1929. Founder of the Chess Endgame Study Circle in London in March 1965.and its quarterly magazine EG\, the first and only publication exclusively devoted to the composed chess ending. Roycroft who is a computer systems analyst and lives in London\, has composed about 20 endgame studies.” \nAJ Roycroft \n“EG” July 1965 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSolution :\n1.Bg7 Kb1; 2.Nf6 b4; 3.Kxb4 Kb2 4.Bh8 Nc2+; 5.Ka4 Kxc3 6.Ne4++ \nVideo Chess Event (See caption below)\nVideo Chess Caption\nAJR won the BCF President’s Award in 1995. \nHere is AJRs Wikipedia entry \nHere is AJR talking about himself on the BPCS web site \nHere is his entry from the Chess Programming Wiki \nTest Tube Chess\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-arthur-john-roycroft/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Roycroft9907.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200719 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200720 DTSTAMP:20210710T142337Z CREATED:20190823T182322Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210710T142337Z UID:1100-1595116800-1595203199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of John Rice (19-vii-1937) DESCRIPTION:BCN sends best wishes to John Michael Rice on his birthday\, July 19th in 1937. \nJohn was born in Scarborough\, Yorkshire\, North Riding\, his mother’s maiden name was Blake. John lives in Surbiton\, Surrey and teaches Modern Languages at Tiffin School\, Kingston-Upon-Thames. \nAn ABC of Chess Problems\nFrom An ABC of Chess Problems : \n“The author is one of the country’s most prolific foremost composers and problem critics. He has gained mainly tourney honours\, both at home and abroad\, and since 1961 has been editor of a flourishing problem section in the British Chess Magazine\, the country’s leading chess periodical. He lives in London and teaches Modern Languages at Tiffin School\, Kingston-Upon-Thames.” \nFrom chesscomposers.blogspot.com : \nJohn Rice was the chief editor of the problems section of the “British Chess Magazine” from 1961 until 1974 and is a faithful collaborator of “The Problemist“. He has written “Chess Problem: Introduction to an Art” (1963) together with Robin Matthews and Michael Lipton and “The Two-Move Chess Problem” (1966)\, “Serieshelpmates” (1978) with Anthony Dickins or “Chess Wizardry: The New ABC of Chess Problems” (1996). \nTranslated from https://peoplepill.com/people/john-michael-rice/ : \n“Since the mid-fifties he has composed problems of all kinds\, but above all in two moves. In the 1960s he was editor of the problems section of the British Chess Magazine. Since 1999 he has been editor of The Problemist magazine. \nInternational Master of Composition since 1969 and International Judge for Composition since 1972. \nPresident of the PCCC (Permanent Commission for Chess Composition) from 2002 to 2006. \nHe worked as a teacher of modern languages ​​in a school in Kingston-upon-Thames. \nWinton Capital British Chess Problem Solving Championships 2016\nTogether with Barry Barnes and Michael Lipton he wrote the book Chess Problems: Introduction to an Art (Faber & Faber\, London 1963). \nChess Problems : Introduction to an Art\nHe composes mostly direct mates\, but can composes as well in other genres\, including fairies. He is an International Judge for twomovers\, helpmates and fairy problems and the former President of the PCCC from 2004 until 2006. \nJohn was awarded the title of “International Grandmaster for chess compositions” in 2015. \nFrom British Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983 by GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson : \n“I was taught the moves of chess in 1947 at the age of ten and quickly realised that I liked the game no more than Ludo or Snakes and Ladders where the chances of losing seemed to me unfairly high. But the chess pieces and their moves fascinated me\, so it is hardly surprising that before long I had turned to problems and become an ardent fan of Brian Harley in his Observer column\, especially as I had come across and paid two shillings (!) for his Mate in Two Moves in a second-hand bookshop in Reigate. Harley\, together with T. R. Dawson in the British Chess Magazine and C. S. Kipping in CHESS\, provided the sources of my first solving pleasure and the inspiration for my first efforts at composition. Among my early successes was problem l\, heavily constructed but strategically rich\, a first prizewinner in a tournament for composers under 21\, one of a series organised by the British Chess Problem Society. \n1 \n1st Prize\, BCPS Under-21 Tournament\, 1955 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in 2. \n1 Bd6 (threat Qg4)\n1…Nxd6+;2.Qf3\n1…Nh6+;2.Qf3\n1…Nxh4+;2.Nf4\n1…g4;2.Rh6\n1…gxh4;2.Qxh4 \nI had grown up in Scarborough (Yorkshire)\, out of contact with other problem enthusiasts\, and a chance meeting in December\, 1954 with Michael Lipton in Cambridge\, where we were both taking Scholarship examinations\, brought the realisation that there was far more to the two-move chess problem than the solidly entrenched traditionalism espoused in those days by the columns of The Problemist and CHESS. Very soon the bulk of my output was in the modern style (with set and try-play) and published abroad\, notably in Die Schwalbe\, whose two-move editor\, Hermann Albrecht\, did much to stimulate my interest. Problem 2 gained a coveted prize in an extremely strong formal tournament judged by Michael\nLipton\, following an article of his on the potentialities of the half-battery theme (illustrated here by the arrangement on the c-file). \n2 \n5th prize\, 133rd Theme Tournament\, Die Schwalbe\, 1961. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in 2 \n1.N2~? Bg7+!\n1.Nd4!? e2!\n1.N3~? Bxc5!\n1.Ne2! d~!\n1.Ne4!! \nThe half-battery is only one of several themes which have commanded my attention over the past 20 years\, others being white self-pin in try and key (illustrated by problem 3)\, Grimshaw and Nowotny (problem 4)\, reciprocal and cyclic play (problem V\, the first published example of cyclic mates in three phases)\, pawn-promotion effects\, and tasks of various types\, especially open gates. My total problem output numbers about 600. \n3 \nThe Tablet\, Commended\, BCPS Ring Tournament 1958; Brian Harley Award \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in 2 \n1.Rxf4? (threat 2.Rhxf3)\nNe5; 2.Re4\nNg3; 2.Rfxf3\n1.Nxf4! (threat 2.Rxf3)\nNe5;2.Ng2\nNg3;2.Nd5 \nIn 1961 I took over from S. Sedgwick the editorship of the problem section of the British Chess Magazine\, which post I held until December\, 1974. It was a source of pride to me that I was now doing the job once done by the great T. R Dawson\, though I knew that I could never bring to it the same tireless energy and all-round expertise which he had displayed so impressively. At about the same time I embarked with Michael Lipton and Robin Matthews on a venture which was to have repercussions throughout the entire problem world\,\nnamely a series of books on problems published by Faber and Faber. The first\, Chess Problems: Introduction to an Art (Lipton\, Matthews and Rice)\, appeared in 1963\, and was followed three years later by The Two-move Chess Problem: Tradition and Development\, also with Michael Lipton\, but this time the third collaborator was Barry Barnes\, who has long been a close friend and influence. The third book in the series\, An ABC of Chess Problems (1970)\, was a solo effort. \n4 \n4th prize\, BCF Tournament 123\, 1970 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in 2 \n1.N5b6?\, Rxb6/Bxb6/Qd3/Qd6;\n2.Qc5/Ne5/Nc5/Qd1 … Qg5! \n1…Qg5! \n1.N7b6!\, Rxb6/Bxb6/Qd3/Qd6/Qxc7;\n2.Bc5/Nf4/Nc3/Bc3/Nxc7 \nMy interest in Fairy Chess dates from a meeting in the mid-1960s with the late John Driver\, whose enthusiasm for the pleasures to be derived from non-orthodox forms I found highly infectious. Fairy problems soon began to appear in the BCM column and were favourably received. The serieshelpmate\, where White remains stationary while Black plays a sequence of moves to reach a position where White can mate in one\, has perhaps interested me more than any other non-orthodox form (see problem Vl)\, and in 1971 I collaborated with Anthony Dickins to produce a book on the subject\, The Serieshelpmate (published by the Q Press\, first edition 1971\, second edition 1978). \n5 \n1st Prize\, Problem  37th Theme Tournament\, 1961-62 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite mates in 2 \nSet: 1…Kc6; 2. Qe8 (A)\n1…Ke6; 2. Qc8 (B) \nTry: 1.Nb6+?\, Kc6;2.Qc8 (B)\nKe6;2.Qd6 (C)\nKe7! \nKey : 1.Nf6+! Kc6;2.Qd6 (C)\nKe6;2.Qe8 (A) \nSince 1974 my problem activities have necessarily been restricted by the demands of family life (wife and two sons\, none of them much interested in chess) and my career (schoolmaster\, formerly Head of Modern Languages Department and now Director of Studies at Tiffin School\, Kingston Upon Thames. Other leisure-time interests (not that there is much leisure time) include cricket and classical music.” \n6 \n2nd Prize\, BCF Tournament  127\, 1971 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nSerieshelpmate in 13 \n1.Bd8;2.Kc7;3.Kc6;4.Rf7;5.Rf3;6.Rc2;7.g2;8.Rf7;9.Rb7;10.Kc7;11.Kb8;12.Rc8;13Bc7\, Nd7 mate. \nJohn Michael Rice\nThe Two Move Chess Problem : Tradition and Development\nJohn Rice at a Winton Capital BCPS Problem Solving event at Eton College\nChess Problems for Solving\nThe Serieshelpmate\nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. Editors : GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-john-michael-rice/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Problemist,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ETO_1355.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200711 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200712 DTSTAMP:20210708T121536Z CREATED:20190822T165808Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210708T121536Z UID:1010-1594425600-1594511999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM David Friedgood (11-vii-1946) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM David Friedgood (11-vii-1946) \nDavid was born in Cape Town\, Republic of South Africa and now resides in England. \nHe first won the South Africa Championship in 1967 in Johannesburg\, again in 1971\, and in 1973 in Cape Town when his main rivals were Piet Kroon and Charles de Villiers. \nHe plays for Cavendish\, Hendon and 4NCL MK Phoenix. \nHe gained his FM title in 1982. \nHis peak rating of 2335 was achieved in January\, 1980. \nDavid Friedgood (far right) and a victorious Wood Green team. Trophy presented by Magnus Magnusson\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nDavid Friedgood at a Lloyds Bank problem solving event with Sir Jeremy Morse\, Jonathan Mestel and ?\nFM David Friedgood at the 2014 Winton Capital Problem Solving Championship at Eton College\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-david-friedgood/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Composer,Player,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bct_4676_lv-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200619 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200620 DTSTAMP:20210620T094213Z CREATED:20190823T181141Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210620T094213Z UID:1094-1592524800-1592611199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Robin Matthews (16-vi-1927 19-vi-1983) DESCRIPTION:BCN remembers Robin Matthews CBE\, FBA who died in Cambridge aged 83 on June 19th 2010. Probate (3367272) was granted in Ipswich\, Suffolk on September 6th\, 2010. \nRobert (Robin) Charles Oliver Matthews was born in Edinburgh on Thursday\, June 16th 1927. Born on the same day was England cricketer\, Tom Graveney. \nHis English father\, Oliver Harwood Matthews became an Edinburgh solicitor and his mother was Ida Matthews (née) Finlay.  Robin had a daughter Alison. \nAcademia\nHe was educated at Edinburgh Academy and then Corpus Christi College\, Oxford becoming a Fellow of All Souls College\, Oxford. He went on to become a highly successful economist authoring at least twelve publications on the subject. \nAccording to Wikipedia “He was the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford from 1965 to 1975 and the Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge from 1980 to 1991. He was also the Master of Clare College\, Cambridge from 1975 to 1993.” \nFor a detailed description of this part of his life there is an excellent obituary / biography from the Australian economist\, Geoffrey Harcourt. \nProblem Composer\nBrian Stephenson (BCPS) writes : “Probably the UK’s greatest composer of ‘mate in 3’ #ChessProblems . His chapters in the book you note were what got me hooked on chess composition. Nearly all of his output can be viewed at The Meson Database” \nBlack Correction: Quaternary Play \nFirst Prize\, The Observer\, 1964 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in three \nAccording to David McKittrick in The Independent: \n“Outside academia\, Matthews was keen on chess\, in particular setting problems and publishing two books on what are known as three-mover directmates\, in which white is to move and checkmate black in no more than three moves against any defence. \nAlthough this might be thought a particularly narrow point of interest\, one enthusiast said of him that his writings “demonstrated a deep knowledge along with the feeling of wonder and curiosity about the subject”. \nRCO Matthews\nFrom The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld: \n“British Composer\, International Judge of Chess Compositions (1957)\, International Master for Chess Compositions (1965)\, economist\, appointed Master of Clare College\, Cambridge in 1975. He has specialised in orthodox three movers and is among the world’s leaders in this field.” \n\nHere is an obituary from The Daily Telegraph \nand an obituary from The Independent \nChess Problems : Introduction to an Art\nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nInternational Master of the F.I.D.E. for chess compositions (1965) and International Judge of the F.I.D.E. for Chess Compositions (1957). President of the British Chess Problem Society for 1971 and 1972. Professor of Economics at Oxford University. \nCyclic Overload Doubled \nFirst Prize\, British Chess Magazine\, 1968 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nMate in three \nBorn on 16th June 1927. Professor Matthews has composed about 200 problems\, about 40 of them 1st prize winners\, mainly strategic three-movers\, He is one of the world’s best three move composers. \nNowotnys \nBritish Chess Magazine\, 1967 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHis best problems give clear-cut expression of complex themes\, with proper attention given to key-move and by-play in the best English tradition. \nChess Problems : Introduction to an Art\nThe results are massive rather than elegant\, but carefully constructed. Themes he has specialised in include overload White self-weakening and reciprocal change.” \nR.C.O. Matthews\nBritish Chess Magazine\n1956 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in three moves \nFrom Wikipedia : \n“Robert (Robin) Charles Oliver Matthews (16 June 1927 – 19 June 2010) was an economist and chess problemist. \nMatthews was born in Edinburgh. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Corpus Christi College\, Oxford\, and was a Fellow of All Souls College\, Oxford. He was the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford from 1965 to 1975 and the Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge from 1980 to 1991. He was also the Master of Clare College\, Cambridge from 1975 to 1993.” \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-robin-co-matthews/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist,Remembering,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/16.06-Robin-Matthews.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200525 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200526 DTSTAMP:20210521T191552Z CREATED:20190823T102453Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210521T191552Z UID:1074-1590364800-1590451199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Guy Chandler (21-viii-1889 25-v-1980) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Guy Wills Chandler (21-viii-1889 25-v-1980) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \n“International Judge of FIDE for Chess Compositions\, Chandler\, who was born on 21st August 1889\, has composed about 125 two and three-move problems\, all in traditional style. Some 30 have gained tourney honours. He was the chess editor of the Hampshire Telegraph and Post from 1911-1921 and he was a founder member of the British Chess Problem Society\, Its Hon. Secretary from 1919 – 1925 and Hon. Secretary and Treasurer since 1951. \nG.W.Chandler\nCommended “The Problemist” 1960 \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nWhite to play and mate in two moves \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-guy-wills-chandler/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/21.08-G.W.Chandler-Chess-Pie-1922.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200518 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200519 DTSTAMP:20200517T135203Z CREATED:20190823T160941Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200517T135203Z UID:1082-1589760000-1589846399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Brian Harley (27-x-1883 18-v-1955) DESCRIPTION:Brian Harley (27-10-1883 18-v-1955)\, from chesscomposers.com and Chess Notes\nDeath Anniversary of Brian Harley (27-x-1883 18-v-1955) \nFrom chesscomposers.com : \n“Brian Harley composed mostly two- or threemovers and wrote many books to make chess problems more popular: for instance his “Mate in Two Moves” inspired Geoff Foster’s first steps into problemdom.\nHarley’s “The Modern Two-move Chess Problem” written in collaboration with Comins Mansfield is probably the best known of his efforts. \nBrian Harley was the inventor of the term “mutate” for the block problems with changed mates. He was the president of the British Chess Problem Society from 1947 until 1949. In his honour\, each year the British magazine “The Problemist” awards the best twomover problem with the “Brian Harley” award.” \nand Edward Winter writes about Brian Harley (scroll down a little). \nHere is BHs obituary from British Chess Magazine\, Volume LXXV\, Number 9\, pages 284 – 287 written by S. Sedgwick : \n“With the death of Brian Harley on May 18th\,1955\, the chess problem is the poorer by an authoritative exponent\, and a writer of unusual clarity and popular appeal. His sudden passing at his home at Bognor Regis will be mourned. by a very wide circle of friends; to his wife and son\, with whom he enjoyed an enduring happiness\, we extend our deep-felt sympathy. \nBorn at Saffron-Walden\, Essex\, on October 27th\,1883\, Harley was educated at Wellingborough and Haileybury. Qualifying as an actuary he entered the National Provident Institution\, in whose employment\, apart from War Service\, he passed his professional life\, until his retirement in 1947. \nAs a player he had initially a considerable reputation\, above that enjoyed as a problemist. Two books\, Chess and its Stars and Chess for the Fun of it\, reflect this aspect of his chess work. When playing was eventually renounced for problems he still retained his love of annotation\, bringing to this a wide knowledge\, larded by the apt witticism and an approach that was neither superficial yet avoided the pitfalls of pedantry. \nChess and its Stars\nHis first problem appeared at the age of fifteen\, in 1898. Whilst Harley’s early period has some noteworthy items\, it lacks the verve and distinction of his later output\, following his awakening of interest in the mutate in 1916_and the fertile years following his appointment as Chess Editor of The Observer\, London\, in 1919. In England under the lead o[ Phillip Williams in the Chess Amateur\, the mutate had sprung into\,popularity during and after the Great War\, with Harley among its ardent exponents. He continued the cult in his Observer column\, where he did much to popularize it. It is possibly symbolic that when Williams died in 1922 his travelling board and men should pass to Harley; it would be difficult to find a comparable instrument that has witnessed the genesis of so much concentrated chess devilry\, implicit in all mutates\, as this board used first by Williams and then by Harley. \nIn July\, 1919\, Harley published his system in the Good Companion folder. This paper\, the outcome of much thought\, attempted to evaluate the constituent parts of a chess problem on a semi-mathematical basis. Point values were set down for the elements in White keys\, Black defences thereto\, and the resultant White mates\, the summation giving values for comparison with other works similarly treated. In an accompanying paper on the block-change it was here that Harley introduced the term “mutate\,” the word passing\, without cavil\, into the current idiom. Under the evocative power of Harley’s work and pen his Observer feature from 1919 onwards has come to rank with the great columns of the past. No composer of substance was absent from its pages and the result is a collection of works and descriptive criticism that has enriched the chess literature of the world. Early on\, Harley came to know the late Godfrey Heathcote\, and the welcome presence of the great composers name in the column gave it a sublimity possessed by no other comparable English journal. Harley’s comments on his contributors work was one of the many attractive features of his column. He kept the popular approach very much in mind without unduly over-weighting it; this\, blended with a brand of humour all his own (often literary in character)\, and a grasp of essentials drove home the salient points of a problem to the uninitiated solver with a peculiar vividness. He could ‘be incisive when wanted\, technical when he pleased\, his gentle rebuke for the inferior production or undetected flaw could not be other than well taken\, authoritative without ostentation\, his succinct criticisms are now legendary to be treasured and repeated when the occasion demands. An incorrigible faddist in his regard for the short threat in the three-mover\, Harley seldom admitted this type to his pages\, pleading aversion by solvers. He conducted over one hundred solving contests during his column’s life; these weekly battles of wits affording enormous pleasure to all concerned. \nChess for the Fun of It\nTo his column came the established composer and the hesitant\, possibly young\, beginner. To this last group Harley gave every encouragement and unreservedly of his advice and help. There must be few British composers who have not felt his benefit directly\, through the medium of his wonderful letters\, lit all the way through by the warm glow of an endearing personality. \nHarley’s constructive powers brought him to the front rank of the world’s composers. His output of 450 includes long range work in four and five moves and in later years\, sui-mates. In the chess-men he found a pliable medium for the realization of an unusual vision and creative gift. In the two-mover he gave to the mutate much substantial and classic work. He appears to have given to this type more specialized attention than any other in the two-move field. Elsewhere in this length his work covers a wide variety of themes with a strong liking for task renderings. A composer with few serious constructive foibles\, his mode of expression\, in consequence suffered little. His was not the temperament to linger with one theme and squeeze it dry. One or two renderings of the theme on hand and he would pass to the next. Hence the diversity of his work which imbues it with especial charm. To underline this point one could indicate\, almost at random\, Harley’s entries in the multimate tourney of the Cleveland Chess Bulletin. Certainty the theme had few attractions for him but his entries showed how superbly such problem ideas could be clothed. \nIn the three-mover Harley has graced both sides of the aesthetic fence\, and that with distinction\, giving equally to the strategic and model-mate.genre. His friendship with Heathcote however influenced him considerably here and one is inclined to the view\, that in this length\, Harley held firmly to the eternal values in chess art. In both types Harley attained especially in task renderings\, rare heights of complexity and construction. His lighter mood showed to the full-to the incipient solver much of the low cunning of which the three-mover is capable. \nHe came to the sui in the late forties. When Heathcote was convalescing in London\, following an operation\, Harley took some specimens with him when he visited his friend The ensuing discussion stimulated Harley to further experiments and the authentic touch of the great master of technique is evident in his work here also. Harley gave many of his works to his own “Observer” column but did not neglect the other sources of publication. To quote his own words his ideal problem was “a mixture of art\, science\, humour\, and puzzlement.” His best work shows brilliantly his love for the integration of the beautiful and the true inner essence and spirit of chess. \nHis contribution to the literary and technical side of chess problems outside his journalistic work is seen in his two books Mate in Two (1931) and Mate in Three (1943).\nMate in Two is stamped with all Harley’s inimitable style and remains a mine of information for all levels. Standing\, as it does\, mid-way between the old and the new\, the book\, apart from an absorbing chapter on changed play\, reflects and even labours under the influence of the “Good Companion” period. Harley in later editions to a certain extent remedied this deficiency and the book\, now long out of print\, lies on our shelf\, its fundamentals unimpaired\, as one of the classic expositions in the art. Mate in Three\, written from a’ narrower viewpoint\, proved another successful publication. Here Harley entered more controversial ground\, crossing swords. with hitherto established theory. The book\, although not evoking absolute technical authority\, gives a broad and eloquent outline\, written from the artistic standpoint\, of three-move work fundamentally\, with few significant omissions. Made memorable by the inclusion of many works both by Harley and Heathcote\, the book is that of a true artist\, and is of great importance theoretically as the one modern work devoted to this length by an English author. \nA further important contribution to chess problem theory was his thesis on “Black Correction” read before the British Chess Problem Society on November 29th\, 1935. In the mid thirties\, this thesis\, more than anything else\, was instrumental in precipitating a flood of work on correction and associated ideas. Readers of this magazine will recall this period\, and I trust that this short recapitulation will still the tiresome arguments regarding the choice between “correction” and “continued defences.” Harley’s choice is at once apt and descriptive and it should not be forgotten that here\, he touched upon White Correction\, an esoteric aristocrat\, greeted by ten years or so of utter silence before systematic investigation by the moderns. \nElected President of the British Chess Problem Society in 1947-1949 it so happened that I was its Secretary at the time. We exchanged hundreds of letters on problematic subjects\, the scope of his knowledge always affording surprise. The Society benefited enormously from his advice and counsel\, and during the somewhat delicate situation arising from the arbitration in the two-move section of the 1948 Olympic Tourney it was with alacrity that one turned to a mind of the calibre of Harley. Coming to the man he was widely read\, a Latin scholar\, and his knowledge of Dickens was above average; a keen bridge player\, an instrumentalist (piano)\, all the varied facets of his character would come out at some time in his chess writings. His physical presence at any gathering gave it stature. Of medium height\, lovable\, somewhat dapper\, the shrewd contemplative face of this chess Barrie with its ever present cigarette holder and fund of anecdote has enriched and enlivened many a dull Committee Meeting. \nMate in Two Moves\nOn the death of Anthony Guest in 1925\, Harley succeeded as Problem Editor of the Morning Post until 1932. In addition he was Problem Editor of Empire Review\, 1923-1926\, and Time and Tide\, from 1951 until his death. Lesser appointments included several technical journals where he acted under pseudonyms. Amusing were the anagrammatical pseudonyms used occasionally for composing in Hilary Bream and Harry Blaine. \nBrian’s integrity and character endeared him to innumerable correspondents and solvers. Most of us nourish a characteristic Brian Harley story; one must suffice here. It concerns the time when Brian was introduced to the late Sir John Simon who made the delightful response “l need no introduction for I meet him every Sunday and for years hive wrestled with his problems\, eventually solving them in the House of Commons.” For this weekly enrichment of our lives we have much to thank him for. \nIn middle life Brian married Ella Margaret Beddall; there is one son\, Nigel. With his wife\, Brian shared many problematic triumphs and it was to her that his various\nbooks were dedicated. \nMate in Three Moves\nBefore closing this brief review of Brian’s achievements a word should be said regarding the summary end of his work in the Observer and a tribute paid by one of his many solvers in this column. On the former it will be regarded with universal regret by all problemists that no arrangements have been made to continue Brian’s incomparable’work in the journal he served with such distinction. Regarding the latter am very grateful to Halford W. L. Reddish\, Esq.\, for an appreciation that admirably epitomizes the feelings of us all on this melancholy occasion. \nMr. Halford Reddish writes- \n“l am one of thousands of solvers\, from the expert to the merest tyro\, who will miss our weekly battle with Brian Harley in the Observer. In the world of chess and chess problems his name and fame are secure. His characteristically titled Chess for the Fun of It is a delightful exposition of the game: his Mate in Two Moves and Mate in Three Moves are classics in their particular field. \nTo those of us who knew Brian personally his passing leaves an unfillable gap. I had known him and admired him and loved his witty\, cheery\, kindly personality for many years. He was one of those rare beings who became a close friend even before our first meeting-for we had corresponded for a long time before we first came face to face. And although chess and chess problems were our primary link he had many other interests which kept him young and keen in mind after his retirement from business and which enlarged and enriched his correspondence. It is typical of him that no letter came from him without some mention of his dear wife\, who shared to the full his varied interests. To her and to his only son to the deep sympathy of his many friends.” \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-brian-harley/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200514 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200515 DTSTAMP:20210307T165149Z CREATED:20191027T115305Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210307T165149Z UID:1677-1589414400-1589500799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of John Barrow (12-xi-1890 14-v-1943) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of John Hugh Barrow (12-xi-1890 14-v-1943) \nFrom chesscomposers.com : \n“John Barrow composed direct mates and helpmates.” \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-john-hugh-barrow-12-xi-1890-14-v-1943/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200424 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200425 DTSTAMP:20210306T142207Z CREATED:20190823T161140Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T142207Z UID:1084-1587686400-1587772799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Godfrey Heathcote (20-vii-1870 24-iv-1952) DESCRIPTION:From The Encyclopaedia of Chess(Robert Hale\, 1970 and 1976) by Anne Sunnucks : \n“Problem composer\, and deemed to be on of the great masters of the art. Heathcote was born on 20th July 1870 in Manchester\, and died on 24th April 1952. whilst in office as the President of the British Chess Problem Society. An advocate of the model mate\, Heathcote was one of few composers with the power to combine model mates with strategy. In 1918 a collection of his problems appeared in the A. C. White Christmas series under the title Chess Idylls” \nHere is an appreciation from chesscomposers.blogspot.com \nChess Idylls (1918)\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-godfrey-heathcote/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,History,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20.07-G.Heathcote-Chess-Pie-1922.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200418 DTSTAMP:20210306T141326Z CREATED:20200403T185851Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T141326Z UID:4039-1587081600-1587167999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Tim Whitworth (31-vii-1932 17-iv-2019) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Timothy George Whitworth (31-vii-1932 17-iv-2019) \nEndgame Magic\nHere is an excellent article from Brian Stephenson \nEndgame Magic\nHere is an obituary from The Guardian \nLeonid Kubbel’s Chess Endgame Studies\nMattison’s Chess Endgame Studies\nThe Platov Brothers : Their Chess Endgame Studies\nTimothy George Whitworth\n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-timothy-george-whitworth-31-vii-1932-17-iv-2019/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/1114.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200416 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200417 DTSTAMP:20210306T140152Z CREATED:20200323T140030Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210306T140152Z UID:3696-1586995200-1587081599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Joseph Peckover (15-xi-1896 16-iv-1982) DESCRIPTION:Death Anniversary of Joseph Edmund Peckover (15-xi-1896  16-iv-1982) \nFrom The Encyclopedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks : \nBorn in Hampstead\, London to Henry Joseph Peckover and Louisa Jane Micklewright on the 15th November 1896\, Peckover has lived in New York since 1921. He has composed about 70 endgame studies : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nJE Peckover \, 1st Prize\, Problem 1958 – 59 Award July 1960. \nHere is his Wikipedia entry \nHere is his entry on chesscomposers.com \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-joseph-edmund-peckover-15-xi-1896-16-iv-1982/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200414 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200415 DTSTAMP:20220419T083516Z CREATED:20200413T172919Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T083516Z UID:4595-1586822400-1586908799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Death Anniversary of Theophilus Willcocks (19-iv-1912 14-iv-2014) DESCRIPTION:Remembering Theophilus Harding Willcocks (19-iv-1912 14-iv-2014) \nAn innovator in both mathematics and fairy chess. \nHere is an excellent article on squaring.net \nAn article from matplus.net \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/death-anniversary-of-theophilus-harding-willcocks-19-v-2014/ CATEGORIES:Composer,Death Anniversary,Problemist,Remembering ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/th-willcocks.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20200324 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20200325 DTSTAMP:20210305T190227Z CREATED:20200716T112123Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210305T190227Z UID:7445-1585008000-1585094399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of Christopher Feather (24-iii-1947) DESCRIPTION:Christopher John Feather\nBirthday of Christopher John Feather (24-iii-1947) \n Save as PDF URL:http://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-christopher-john-feather-24-iii-1947/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Composer,Problemist END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR